


Say My Name

by CityEscape4



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: AU-ish?, Fluff, HolyIceshipping child, Mention of Iris as an adopted disqualify/hellshark child, Multi, Post-Canon, Uncle Ryoga can be not the greatest influence, goes along an RP timeline, old fic, relocated from tumblr, there's a seven year time skip from the end of canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-09 17:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14720850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CityEscape4/pseuds/CityEscape4
Summary: Ryoga and Thomas try teaching Rio and Durbe’s son a few new words, and things don’t go quite as planned.





	1. Say My Name

**Author's Note:**

> _“Rio said that she and Durbe have been trying to teach him more words.” Ryoga said. “Apparently ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ aren’t enough for them anymore.”_
> 
>  
> 
> _“Ah.” The room was silent for a moment longer, with only the sounds of Calem sucking on his bottle, before Thomas asked, “You think they’ve tried teaching him our names?”_

It was early that evening as the elder Kamishiro twin held onto his nephew with one hand, sitting on a couch at the Arclight manor. “God,” Ryoga muttered as he struggled to keep Calem from squirming against him. “Can’t you calm down for a minute?”

Blue eyes that rivaled the Barian King’s own looked up to him upon hearing his voice, Calem looking at his uncle curiously, before a happy coo left him and a small grubby hand clamped down on purple hair, yanking it.

Ryoga seethed and put the bottle he had made a few minutes ago down on the side table. He was quick to pull Calem’s hand away from his hair, glaring somewhat at the child. “What’s with you and pulling my hair?”

“Maybe he just knows how fun it is to see you all riled up.” Ryoga glared upwards towards the sound of the sudden voice, rolling his eyes at Thomas, who smirked as he walked down the stairs.

Using his hand to bat away Calem’s hands, - something the child began to see a game, much to the Barian King’s chagrin – Ryoga looked back at Thomas, a slightly irritated look on his face. “Shut it, Thomas.”

“Look at him.” Thomas said with a chuckle, reaching the bottom step. “He knows what he likes. And what he likes is messing with you, Ryoga. I’d have to agree with the little guy on that.” 

Ryoga frowned deeper at Thomas. “I said to shut it, idiot.” He was about to turn his attention back to his nephew, when he looked back at the Asian champion, his frown replaced with a concerned, questioning look. “Where’s Iris?”

“She’s is upstairs with Michael,” Thomas said, sitting down next to Ryoga on the couch. “The two of them are having a tea party, and he offered to get her bathed and ready for bed afterwards.” He leaned a bit against Ryoga, an arm going around the younger male’s shoulders as he grinned a little deviously. “He’s doing that, Rio and Durbe won’t be back until late tonight… Whaddya say we go ahead and give this little guy his bottle so he’ll fall right asleep? Then you and I can have a little _fun_ of our own.”

“Pervert.” Ryoga muttered as he reached over to get Calem’s bottle. The moment Calem saw it, his eyes lit up, and his hands stopped reaching for Ryoga’s hair, instead reaching upwards for the bottle. “Bah! Bah!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got your bottle right here.” Ryoga said as he began feeding Calem.

Thomas raised an eyebrow at that, looking at Ryoga. “Is ‘bah’ supposed to mean bottle?”

Ryoga nodded, smirking as Calem seemly began to doze off while drinking his bottle. “Yeah, Rio said that she and Durbe have been trying to teach him more words.” He said. “Apparently ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ aren’t enough for them anymore.”

“Ah.” The room was silent for a moment longer, with only the sounds of Calem sucking on his bottle, before Thomas asked, “You think they’ve tried teaching him our names?”

A look of thought momentarily came to the Barian King, before he frowned. “Well, if they have, it hasn’t worked.” He looked back down at Calem at that, frowning still. “That’s a bratty thing to do, you know, learning to say bottle before my name.” He received no response, the child’s eyes beginning to close as he fought off sleep.

“What about my name?” Thomas asked.

Ryoga looked over to his boyfriend and shook his head. “My name’s more important. Yours can come later.”

“Ryoga!”

The two began to bicker back and forth somewhat, causing Calem to open his eyes. Having drank his fill, Calem let go of the now empty bottle, pushing it away from his mouth. “Bah.” Thomas and Ryoga both looked over to Calem then, and Ryoga pulled the bottle away, putting it back down on the side table.

“He should have fallen asleep…” Thomas said a bit disheartenedly.

“Well, your big stupid mouth and loud voice probably kept him up.” Ryoga muttered, watching as Calem yawned.

Thomas shot Ryoga a glare then, before sighing and looking over at Calem as well. A small smile came to the red-head as an idea passed through his mind. “Hey, Calem? _Calem._ ”

Calem looked over to Thomas then, the child smiling happily at being paid attention to.

“Can you say ‘Thomas’?” Thomas asked with a smile, a hand going to play with Calem’s fingers. “Say Tom-mas.”

Realizing what Thomas was doing, Ryoga frowned and shook his head, looking to Calem as well. “No, don’t say that idiot’s name. Say Ryoga. Ry-oh-gah.”

The two continued this for a couple minutes, repetitions of Thomas and Ryoga sounding out their names filling the room, the two pointing to themselves as they urged Calem to say their names. Calem had been smiling and giggling all throughout the time, liking all the attention he was getting from his two uncles.

Eventually the two stopped, a sigh escaping Thomas. “Maybe our names are too hard for him for now.”

“I guess.” Ryoga muttered as he moved Calem to his shoulder, beginning to pat his back to burp him. "How much longer do you think it’s gonna be till he can start talking?“

"Why ask me?” Thomas asked, sitting back in his seat. “He’s not my kid.”

“Well, you’ve been around babies before. You had Michael, after all.”

“I was only three. I don’t remember specifics.” Thomas folded his arms as he thought, shaking his head. As he did so, a small little burp left Calem, Ryoga pulling him off his shoulder to look him over, making sure he didn’t dirty himself. A coo left Calem then, as he smiled at Ryoga, the Barian King being unable to help grinning back. He was never a fan of babies or bratty little kids, but there was something about Calem that he couldn’t help but like. He assumed it was only because it was Durbe and Rio’s kid. Any other kid (with the exception of Iris) he could do without.

Sitting Calem back down on his lap, Ryoga looked to Thomas, who was still in thought. “Well?”

Sighing, Thomas leaned back against the couch. “I just remember he started babbling nonsense one day, and a little while afterwards he was saying small words, or short versions of words.”

Calem was soon staring at Ryoga, making all sorts of different sounds while he doing so, Ryoga and Thomas stopping their conversation to listen. The Barian King couldn’t help but chuckle after a moment. “He might not be able to actually talk yet, but he sure does seem to have a lot to say. He takes after his mother in that regard.”

“He’s probably asking us why we didn’t let him fall asleep.” Thomas remarked.

“You mean why you didn’t let him fall asleep.” Ryoga shot back, glaring at Thomas slightly. “You and your big mouth.”

“You weren’t complaining about my mouth _last night,_ Ryoga.”

Ryoga was about to tell Thomas not to talk like that in front of Calem (not that Calem would understand anything Thomas was saying, but cuz god forbid he learned to say something he wasn’t supposed to from the two of them and repeated it in front of Durbe and Rio) when he was interrupted by the small child.

“…Gah?”

“There’s no more bottle.” Ryoga said. “You drank it all.”

Calem's eyes lit up, the child giving a bright, gummy smile before speaking again. "Gah!"

“Ryoga, wait.” Thomas said, sitting up a bit. “I don’t think he was saying he wanted his bottle.”

At hearing his uncle’s name come from Thomas’s mouth, Calem’s face brightened, a happy coo escaping him. “Gah! O-gah…?” He looked back to Ryoga then, a hand clamping down on Ryoga’s hair again. “ ‘Oga!”

Ryoga smiled through the slight pain, not caring that his nephew was pulling on his hair this one time. “He said it!” Ryoga exclaimed, pulling Calem’s hand away from his hair. “He said my name!” Moving Calem so that the boy was sitting upright on his lap, Ryoga smirked. “Say it again: Ry-o-gah.”

A happy squeal came from the little Barian child, his hands reaching for his uncle as he cried, “ 'Oga! 'Oga!”

There was a clear pout on Thomas's face as Ryoga basked in his victory of having Calem learn his name first, before the middle Arclight spoke. “Technically, he hasn’t said your name. It’s _Ry_ -oga, not just 'Oga’.”

Ryoga scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a sore loser, idiot. You accepted his way of saying 'bottle’, so you can just as easily accept that he can say my name.”

“Nope.” Thomas said, shaking his head. “It has to be Ryoga.”

Ryoga glared at Thomas, before looking down to Calem. “Hey, lets play a game.” He pointed to himself then. “Say my name.”

“ 'Oga!”

Ryoga picked Calem up then, turning him to look at Thomas. “Now say this idiot's name.” Calem was silent at that, prompting Ryoga to look over at Thomas. “Look at that. I win.”

It was then that Calem began babbling again. “… ih?”

Thomas’s eyes lit up at that. “Wait, I think he’s trying to say my name. Say Thomas. Thom-mas.”

“Ih?” Calem’s little lips pursed, his face scrunched as he tried getting whatever sounds he wanted to make out. “Ih? Dee-ih?”

Thomas nodded, looking over at Ryoga. “See? He’s trying to say my name.”

“Just stop.” Ryoga said, shaking his head. “Don’t do this to yourself. That sounds nothing like ‘Thomas’, idiot.”

Calem turned his head to look at Ryoga speaking, a coo escaping him as he watched his one uncle, before turning back to the other. “Ih-ih!. Dee? Dih? ” Young blue eyes lit up happily, Calem cooing before claiming “Ih-dee-dih!” again. A happy squeal was quick to follow, the little boy amused and proud of himself.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Ryoga was practically dying with laughter, both at hearing what just came out of the mouth of his sister’s son, and at the expression on poor Thomas’s face. He honestly didn’t know which was better. "He sounds like he's trying to say _Idiot!_ "

“Calem, no!” Thomas cried, his hands going to gently grasp at Calem’s chubby little ones. “It’s Thomas, ok? _Thomas._ ”

“Ih-dee-dih!”

Ryoga’s laughter soon died down, and his fingers brushed over Calem’s stomach, prompting little giggles from him. “I knew I liked this kid for a reason.” He said with a smirk.

Thomas muttered something unintelligable as he flopped back against the couch, a look of upset clear on his face.

“Stop pouting.” Ryoga said as he continued to play with Calem. “Be happy at what a marvelous little child this guy is.” It was then that Thomas scoffed and got up, beginning to walk back up the stairs. “Oh, come on!”

“Have fun getting him to sleep by yourself.” Thomas said, stopping on the steps momentarily. “I think I’m going to go join Michael and Iris.” With that, Thomas continued his ascent up the stairs, Ryoga chuckling as he was just barely able to hear Thomas say, “At least _she_ can say my name correctly.”


	2. That's Not My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryoga shows Durbe and Rio what all their son’s learned while they were away for the day: the good, _and_ the bad.

It was later on in the evening that Durbe and Rio returned from their night out, the two of them all smiles as they walked in through the front of the Arclight manor. Ryoga was quick to meet them, a wide-awake Calem in his arms as he did.

“Ryoga,” Durbe said with a slight frown, only for it to fade as Calem reached for Rio and gave a happy cry of ‘mama!’.“Why is Calem awake?” He asked as Rio reached out and grabbed him. “You should have put him to sleep a couple of hours ago.”

“Because.” Ryoga said, smirking triumphantly.

“Ryoga…” Rio’s voice lowered slightly into a more threatening tone, the ice queen clearly unamused.

“Just watch.” Ryoga then looked to Calem and pointed to himself. “Hey, Calem? What’s my name?”

Innocent blue eyes left Rio and looked to Ryoga, a happy squeal leaving him as he cried, “ Oga! ‘Oga!”

Rio and Durbe’s eyes lit up hearing Calem say Ryoga’s name, and the two clamored over him, Ryoga still smirking as the couple praised their son. “I realized he hadn’t learned my name yet. Naturally, that had to change.”

“You kept him up this late just to teach him your name?” Durbe asked, the frown returning yet again. 

“Well, he was being stubborn, and didn’t want to fall asleep after his bottle.” The purple haired male gave his twin sister a slight glare at that. “That stubbornness is something he got from you, you know.”

“Durbe can be stubborn too.” Rio huffed, glaring back at her brother.

“Yeah, but not to your extent.”

“My extent? You’re lucky I have a child in my hands Ryoga or els—”

 _"Anyway,”_ Durbe interrupted, raising his voice over the siblings before they could squabble any further. “Thanks for watching Calem. We’ll make sure he falls asleep as soon as we’re home. He’ll probably sleep late tomorrow morning though, so we might be a little late in coming to watch Iris.”

Ryoga waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, its fine. I understand.” He was about to go ahead and let them say their goodbyes and leave, when he remembered something. “Wait, hold on a minute.”

Arching a brow, Rio gave a slight hum. “Hmm? What is it?”

“Calem didn’t learn just my name.” Ryoga informed them, smirking proudly. As he spoke, Thomas had been heading down the stairs again. Ryoga turned his head to see who it was coming down the stairs, and couldn’t believe this great timing. “Oi, Thomas!” He waved the middle Arclight over. “Rio and Durbe are leaving!”

Thomas gave a small nod of acknowledgement and walked over, standing next to Ryoga. But before he could say anything, the Barian King spoke.

“Hey Calem?” Young blue eyes looked to older ones, a small coo escaping the child. Ryoga pointed to Thomas then. “Who’s that?”

“Ih-dee-dih!” Calem cried happily as he wriggled in Rio’s arms. “Ih-dee-dih!”

Thomas’s face turned a dark shade of red as he scoffed and turned away, heading towards the couch. Admittedly, the kid was cute…. but did it have to be at his expense?!

Rio was full on laughing, and even Durbe couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Ryoga,” Durbe said, failing to hide his amusement. “That’s not very nice.”

“It’s cute, Durbe, relax.” Rio said, dark pink eyes glancing towards silver.

Durbe sighed, not being able to help but feel a bit bad for the middle Arclight, “I’m relaxed, really. I just prefer Calem not grow up calling him ‘Uncle Idiot’ instead of ‘Uncle Thomas’.”

“The two are practically interchangeable.” Ryoga countered, Rio giving a slight nod of her head in agreement. “He’ll be fine. What’s important here is that he knows _my_ name now.”

Durbe shook his head, a smile on his lips at his best friend’s words. “Right. What was I thinking?” He said sarcastically.

“That’s the thing. You weren’t thinking.” Ryoga said, smirking smugly as he teased Durbe.

Calem then began whining, his arms reaching out for his father, tiny grubby baby hands grasping at air, a display of wanting Durbe to hold him now instead of Rio.

Durbe couldn’t help but smile and reached for his son, Rio passing him over. “Hey there, little guy. Did Uncle Ryoga teach you the wrong way to say Uncle Thomas’s name?”

“Yes!” Thomas called out rather annoyedly from his spot on the couch.

“Oh, don’t get all worked up about it, you two.” Ryoga huffed, folding his arms. “It’s _funny.”_

Durbe ignored Ryoga’s words however, and began speaking to Calem once more. “Say Tom-mas. I know you can.”

Rio simply watched on, amused at the entire situation. She knew the longer they stayed here, the later Calem would get to bed, but she couldn’t help it; the scene was both cute and funny to her.

She watched as Thomas got up from the couch and walked over to Durbe, joining him in a mission that Rio deemed destined for failure. Calem was too young to properly pronounce Thomas’s name, she knew that.

Calem soon began making all sorts of pleased little noises from the attention he was getting from Thomas and Durbe. Rio knew it would only drag out Thomas’s expectations, but said nothing yet, if only because she could see how annoyed her twin was getting.

“Come _on!”_ Ryoga groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s not gonna do it. ‘Idiot’ is as close as you’re gonna get.”

Thomas quickly glared at Ryoga then, before resuming his previous mission of trying to get Calem to say his name.

“D-Daaah? Aaaah. Aaaaah…” Calem cooed and babbled in Durbe’s hold,trying to mimic the sounds his father and uncle were making.

“You both have no sense of humor.” Ryoga said growing annoyance. “Its not hurting anyone. Besides, Thomas deserves it for being an ass.”

Calem continued babbling, repeatedly making the ‘aaah’ sound. “Aaah? Sssaaahh..” He looked over to Ryoga after he finished speaking, giving a brief trill of his lips before beginning to babble again. “Aaah-ssshhaa?” His little nose scrunched as his head tilted slightly, looking at Ryoga curiously. “Hhaasss.. Ass?”

Silence filled the room, and all eyes were on Calem, who looked rather pleased with himself.

“Ass!”

Three different cries of **_“Ryoga!”_** simultaneously pelted the ex-Barian king. He could easily make out Thomas’s exasperation, Rio’s anger, Durbe’s shock…. and yet the purple-haired male unabashedly grinned.

“I _love_ this kid.” He said smugly, unable to help the laughter that left him as Thomas muttered something along the lines of “I’m done with this” and plodded back to the couch, collapsing on it pathetically.

Durbe just looked stunned beyond words, his mouth gaping as he looked back and forth from Calem and Ryoga, before finally looking to Rio with an expression that purely read ‘did that really just happen?’. Though as he looked at her, he closed his mouth and he took a small step back, seeing just how angry Rio looked.

“Did you just teach my year old son a curse word right in front of me?!”

Ryoga looked unphased, folding his arms once more. “I didn’t teach him anything.”

If looks could kill, Ryoga would have died twelve times over by now. “Ryoga Kamishiro, I _swear to god, I–”_

“How about,” Durbe interrupted, wedging his way in between the siblings, knowing just how bad they could get when they argued, “we just go home, put Calem to bed, and put this behind us before something regrettable is said that he could repeat?”

Rio exhaled heavily through her nose, giving a ‘hmph!’ as she turned on her heel, grabbed Calem from Durbe’s hands and began walking out the front door.

Admittedly, Ryoga did feel bad about having inadvertently taught Calem the word ‘ass’. But it wasn’t his fault that Durbe and Rio had had a smart kid. With a sigh, he unfolded his arms, and looked to Durbe. “What time do you think you’ll be coming over for Iris tomorrow?”

“Assuming Calem falls asleep either on the way home or right when we get home, then around ten in the morning, eleven at the latest.” Durbe mused.

“Right.” Ryoga mumbled, watching as Durbe began walking out the door. “Hey.”

Durbe stopped and turned to look at Ryoga. “Yes?”

Ryoga was silent for a moment before muttering, “Sorry about Calem.”

A bit of a smile hesitantly rose on Durbe’s face. “Just… Please try watching your language around him?”

“Yeah, I will.” Ryoga replied, nodding slightly. “G’night.”

Durbe said his goodbyes and left, Ryoga closing the front door with a huff. He began making his way to Thomas, who was still sitting on the couch, a pout on his face. “Oi, idiot. Relax, would you?”

“I had a kid that can’t even walk call me an ass.” He muttered, not looking at Ryoga.

Sighing, Ryoga sat next to Thomas, a silence settling between them for a few moments, before the Barian King spoke. “If it makes you feel any better, he just learned a third of your name, is all. Specifially the ‘as’, or rather, _‘ass’_ end. Isn’t that what you guys wanted?”

Thomas’s expression was completely worth getting hit with one of the couch’s pillows.


End file.
